Game 19/162, Adrian Gonzalez Helps the Sox Win in 11

Red Sox 4, Angels 2

Red Sox - 000 002 000 02 - 4 8 0

Angels   - 000 000 200 00 - 2 4 0

The Red Sox won in extras on Thursday against the Angels. They didn't hit very well but they got the one hit that mattered. Josh Beckkkkket pitched his third great start. In his last three starts, he has a 1.08 ERA in 23 IP. He pitched a season high 125 pitches which was enough for 8IP. He let up two runs on a mistake pitch to Torii Hunter which tied the score, 2-2. The Red Sox couldn't cash in on many opportunities. The only one being Ellsbury's two run single in the 6th. Boston wasted several scoring chances throughout the game:

1st: 1st/2nd, 1 out - Kevin Youkilis 6U-3/DP

2nd: Man on 3rd, 1 out - Carl Crawford 3U, Jason Varitek K

3rd: 1st/2nd, 2 outs - Marco Scutaro F8

4th: 1st/2nd, 2 outs - Ellsbury F7

7th: 1st/2nd, 0 outs - Gonzalez P5, Scutaro K, David Ortiz K

8th: Bases loaded, 1 out - J.D. Drew K, Dustin Pedroia P4

joyofsox.blogspot.com

In the 11th, Gonzalez won it for the Sox with a go- ahead double, probably his biggest hit in a Red Sox uniform. Then in the bottom of the 11th, the Birthday Boy closed it out for the save.

Interesting quote by Peter Gammons:

"I think one of the things that's killed [the Red Sox] is that Jacoby Ellsbury has forgotten what his job is in baseball, which is to get on base and run. His four home runs, to me, are one of the worst things that's happened to this team early in the season, because I think it's encouraged him to get wider and wider with his swing. ... They need him to get on base 37 percent of the time or 38 percent of the time. I think he's kind of gotten away from that. ... The guy who's supposed to hit lead-off isn't getting on base."

With the win, the Red Sox improve to 7-11 on the season, and they are 4 games behind the 1st place Yankees and 1.5 games behind the 2nd place Rays.

100 Year Anniversary Plans for Fenway Revealed

This past Wednesday, 99 years ago, the Red Sox beat the Yankees (then known as the Highlanders) in Fenway's first professional baseball game. They won in 11 innings 7-6. The game was delayed two days earlier due to rain. The first game at Fenway was on April 11th during a snowstorm in which the Red Sox beat Harvard University. 24,000 people were at the first game and since then, Fenway has gotten some big upgrades and a lot more visitors.

On Wednesday, the Red Sox announced some of their plans for the anniversary. Fans can go to Fenway Park 100 to see year by year photos and watch more than 30 videos of historic monuments at Fenway for instance the Green Monster, Pesky's Pole and the lone red seat.

Game 17/162, Red Sox Win by Way of the Long Ball

Red Sox 5, Athletics 3

Red Sox  - 010 102 100 - 5 10 0

Athletics - 100 000 011 - 3 12 1

The Red Sox played a nice game today to make their record 6-11 to start the season. Today the Red Sox snapped two streaks, both bad ones. One, the Red Sox were 0-7 on the road so far this season and two, the Red Sox were scoreless on the road for their last twenty innings. Clay Buchholz pitched well, 5 and 1/3 innings pitched giving up 1 ER on the homer to Coco Crisp (doesn't that name sound familiar). Then in the sixth, after Buchholz loaded the bases, Bard was brought in to put out the flame which he did successfully. 

            "I think he owes me a dinner," Bard joked after saving the game.

Papelbon worked out of two jams to earn his 3rd save of the season. In the last four innings, the Athletics left 9 men on base. Crawford got the Red Sox on the scoreboard by scoring Youkilis on his RBI single to left. In the fourth, Youkilis homered to lead off and in the sixth, Jed Lowrie, whose been incredibly good to start the season, hit a two run homer which was his third of the season. JD Drew hit his first homer of the season in the seventh.

Notable Players:

Jed Lowrie, 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs and a homer

Kevin Youkilis, 2 for 4 with an RBI and a homer

Game 17/162, Crawford Looks to Get Out of Slump, Help the Red Sox Win

Today, Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz will pitch up against Gio Gonzalez of the Athletics. This game will start 3:35 PM ET in Oakland. Buchholz has struggled to start the season going 0-2 with a 6.60 ERA. Last year, Buchholz pitched very well and was almost good enough to win the Cy Young award. Gio Gonzalez has had an incredible start to the season, going 2-0 with a 0.47 ERA. 

Carl Crawford, who has the most at-bats out of anyone on the Red Sox, is only hitting .143 to start the season. He does have 2 doubles but only 9 hits to start the season. This is what Crawford said about his struggles:

"I want to end with saying something to Red Sox Nation," it read. "Everybody has been telling me to relax, so I guess I can say that. Just know that everything is the worst it can be right now. There is only one way to go now, it's up. I haven't talked to that many fans yet here in Boston. I've been kind of secluded right now. I won't even stop and get gas. But that's all I can say, things are at their worst right now and I think we can only go up from here."

        After Jed Lowrie's recent hot streak, Manager Terry Francona is not afraid about using bench players. He wants to put in whoever he thinks will give them a better chance to win. 

 "Well, if we had one or two lineups, that meant everything was going right," Francona said Sunday. "I don't know that makes sense right now. I've talked a lot about trying to be consistent. I don't know, we're trying to do whatever we can to play as well as we can and put guys in the best position, so we'll see. I do know as we get into the season, things normally settle down."

Since the Yankees (great game) and the Red Sox lost last night, the Red Sox remain 4.5 games behind first place and 2 games behind second place in the AL East.

Game 15/162, Dice-K, 'nough said

This game will have an early start, 11:00 AM and Dice-K will be pitching against a relatively good pitcher, Ricky Romero. Dice-K hasn't been pitching well as he has had a few years ago. Since his last win, Dice-K has a 9.36 ERA. Last game, he gave up 7 ERs and 8 hits in 2+ innings. I thought it look like he was throwing batting practice to the Rays. This is what Tito said about is last start:

"[W]hen we got into the second, everything went to the middle of the plate. ... seven balls hit right on the barrel. We love when guys throw strikes, but there were some balls that were middle-middle for the first seven hitters."

After his 2+ terrible innings pitched, Dice-K was probably the most hated man in Boston. As he waked back to the dugout, he was loudly booed.

"Nobody really wants to be booed by the fans. The only way I can change this is to show good results in front of them. ... I watched a video after the game and I noticed a clear difference between when I pitch well and bad. There's something to fix."

I think if I were Epstein, I'd give him this start and if he did well give him another game. But if he does badly, I would trade him for a couple Minor Leaguers and make Felix Doubront the fifth starter.

For the Blue Jays, they have ace, Ricky Romero who has a 1.66 ERA and hasn't given up more that 2 ERs per game this season.

       

Game 13/162, Red Sox Win Third Game of Season and Hope to Get Something Started

Red Sox 4, Blue Jays 1

Red Sox   - 220 000 00x - 4 9 1

Blue Jays - 010 000 000 - 1 4 0 

The Red Sox played very well Saturday after barely losing on Friday. They definitely needed this win and got it. At the beginning of the game, Adrian Gonzalez had an RBI single with Youkilis later having an RBI single. Then with Ellsbury on, driving the Blue Jays crazy with his speed, Jed Lowrie hit a homer over the Monster after the pitcher was paying too much attention to Ellsbury on first. Lowrie is now hitting .500 after a good game today going 3 for 5. Lowrie is now on a roll and it is a day before his 27th birthday. Beckett pitched extremely well today, as he has pitched in his last two starts. Over his last two starts, he has given up 1 run in 15 innings with 19 K's. Overall, the Red Sox were happy to get the win and are hoping that they can make this into the turning point of the season and start playing to their capability. But it was very cold during the game as even Hall of Famer Jim Rice was wearing a Red Sox Snuggy during the cold and windy game in Boston.

This is what Beckett said about today's start:

          "I felt good today," said Beckett. "I definitely felt better today and I think I preformed a good notch better than what I did last year."

Notable Players:

Jed Lowrie, 3 for 5 with a homer and two RBIs

Josh Beckett, 7 innings pitched, 3 hits, 1 ER, 9 Ks

2011 Red Sox Game Photos Contest

This year, many of us are going to go to Red Sox games. Here is what to do to enter:

1. Take a picture at the game. This can be of the field, of a player, etc.

2. Email the picture to me (redsoxblog360@gmail.com), or upload it to our Facebook or Twitter page.

Rules:

1. Must be taken by you, not found on Google or you will be disqualified.

2. You can only upload one picture so make sure its good.

All of your pictures will be on our Fan Photos Page. If its not their, email me and notify me so I make sure it is entered in the contest.

Prizes!!!

The winner will win either a pair of Red Sox sunglasses, a Red Sox Mr. Potato Head, a Red Sox arrow sign, or a Red Sox logo baseball.

Buchholz Agrees to a 4 Year Extension with Boston

Today, the Red Sox locked up another great player that has come up through THEIR farm system. Over the past few years, the Red Sox have locked up Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, and Jon Lester. Over the off season, the Red Sox tried negotiating a contract with Buchholz and used Lester's contract as a starting point. Of course, Lester is better at the moment and the Red Sox got a much better deal on Lester than on Buchholz. Lester got a 5 year, 30 million dollar contract which is one of the most team friendly contracts in baseball especially due to the fact that Lester is a workhorse and is capable of a Cy Young season almost every year. One of the only contracts that is more team friendly that Lester's is Evan Longoria's contract that was made to him right after he debuted due to the Ray's belief that he would be a great player. Clay Buchholz had a no hitter a few years ago that was very nicely pitched. Over the past few years, he has struggled, but last year, the young pitch put together a great season in which he had one of the best ERAs in the AL and almost won the Cy Young.   Over the last few years, Buchholz has been a very highly regarded prospect and has been a very big trade chip but his potential value was greater than what the Red Sox were willing to give up so they kept him. This of course meant waiting a couple years for Adrian Gonzalez and missing out on Roy Halladay but they kept Buchholz and they eventually got Gonzalez for a lower price. Buchholz signed a 4 year, 30 million dollar deal with a few club options. Here are the details:

2011: $550,000 (+ $1 million signing bonus)
2012: $3.5 million
2013: $5.5 million
2014: $7.7 million
2015: $12 million
2016: $13 million team option (or $245,000 buyout)
2017: $13.5 million team option (or $500,000 buyout)
(2017 option increases to $14 million if Buchholz finishes either first or second in Cy Young voting during the contract.)

Red Sox Inbox

Over the next few week I will be taking Red Sox questions and answering them. There is a high chance your question will be answered. You can ask up to three questions. I will only choose questions that are appropriate and relevant to the Red Sox. To ask me a question, email me at redsoxblog360@gmail.com and ask the question, leave your first name and the state you from. for example: Jerry from Tennessee. You can also just comment your questions.

Game 7/162, Red Sox Beat the Yankees and Win in their Home Opener

Red Sox 9, Yankees 6

Red Sox  - 150 010 20x - 9 12 0

Yankees  - 211 110 000 - 6  8 2

In the home opener for the Red Sox, they found their first win, raising their record to 1-6 to start the season. Despite Lackey's weak pitching, the Red Sox's batting held up and help get the W. Pedroia hit a homer and then a two run single to begin the game. A few innings late, Salty hit a double to left to give the Sox the lead. Later on, JD Drew hit a two run single to lengthen the Red Sox's lead. Then Papelbon had a good ninth striking out 2 batters.

Notable Players:

Dustin Pedroia, 3 for 5 with a homer, 2 runs and 3 RBIs

Adrian Gonzalez, 2 for 5 with 2 runs and an RBI

JD Drew, 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs

Game 6/162, Red Sox Lose 6th Game, Very Poor Offensively

Indians 1, Red Sox 0

Red Sox  - 000 000 000 - 0 4 0

Indians    - 000 000 01x - 1 3 0

Tough day for Boston as the Sox lose their sixth straight game to begin the season. The Red Sox did very poorly offensively not scoring a single run in the whole game. But, the pitching wasn't bad as lester pitched seven innings with 9 strikeouts and no runs. In the top of the eight, Pedroia hit a soft ground ball to the pitcher with runners on 2nd and 3rd to end the inning. In the next half inning, Orlando Cabrera had a sacrifice squeeze which gave the Indians the lead. In the top of the ninth, just when the Sox started to rally, Darnell McDonald fell over while stepping past second and was tagged to end the game.

Notable Players: 

Jon Lester, 7 IP, 0 ER, 9 Ks

Game 4/162, Red Sox Lose Again

Indians 3, Red Sox 1

Red Sox - 010 000 000 - 1 4 1

Indians  - 000 210 00x - 3 5 1

After losing 3 straight games, the Red Sox lose another marking their 4th consecutive lose to start this season. This is the worst losing streak to begin the season for the Sox since 1996. Josh Beckett didn't pitch to badly and gave up 3 runs in 5 innings. Jarrod Saltalamachia had the Red Sox's only RBI and on that same play, JD Drew was thrown out at home. The Red Sox had a couple more nice chances to score in the game but couldn't capitalize.

Notable Players:

Dustin Pedroia, 2 for 4 

Jarrod Saltalamachia, 1 for 1 with a walk and an RBI

Game 3/162, Red Sox Lose Third Consecutive Game to Start the Season

Rangers 5, Red Sox 1

Red Sox - 000 000 100 - 1 5 0

Rangers - 011 010 11x -  5 9 1

Many bad things happened for the Red Sox on Sunday, marking their third consecutive loss to begin the season. Carl Crawford was moved to the 7th spot in the lineup due to his recent troubles. Clay Buchholz pitched reasonably and gave up 4 runs. One of those runs were Ian Kinsler's third homers vs. the Red Sox . Nelson Cruz also hit his third homer of the season. The only offense Boston got was from the seventh when one man crossed the plate of of Crawford's single. Later in the inning, the bases were loaded but Ellsbury struck out. Hopefully Beckett can revive the Red Sox and give them their first win of the season against the Indians on Tuesday.

Notable Players:

David Ortiz, 2 for 4

Carl Crawford, 2 for 4 with and RBI

Game 2/162, Red Sox Fall Due to Bad Pitching

Rangers 12, Red Sox 5

Red Sox - 020 100 200 -  5  8   0

Rangers - 102 621 00x - 12 15 1

In the first inning Ian Kinsler went deep again in his first at bat in the game. Ortiz then hit a 2 run homer to give the Red Sox the lead 2-1. Then it unraveled as the Rangers scored 11 runs in the next few innings. Ellsbury, who has been hot lately then had a 2 run homer but the Red Sox were still behind by 7 runs and thats the way the game ended.

Notable Players:

Adrian Gonzalez, 3 for 5, 2 runs and a double

David Ortiz, 1 for 4, home run, and 3 RBIs

Jacoby Ellsbury, 1 for 4, home run

Game 1/162, Red Sox Lose on Opening Day

Rangers 9, Red Sox 5

Red Sox - 201 000 010 - 5 7 1

Rangers - 110 300 04x - 9 10 1

The Red Sox had a good start to the game, with Youkilis having an RBI double and Adrian Gonzalez having an RBI single after the error by Julio Borbon. The next time Boston scored was after Adrian Gonzalez's two run single with the bases loaded. Lester had a rough night giving up 5 runs in 5 and 1/3 innings on three home runs which is a career high for Lester. Then the game settled down for a while and the score was 5-4 when David Ortiz homered to tie the game at five. In the next half inning, the Red Sox's chances of winning were demolished after Daniel Bard gave up four runs on quite a few extra base hits. This would be the difference in the game as the Red Sox couldn't score in the ninth inning.

Notable Players: 

Ellsbury, 2 for 4 with 2 runs, a walk, stolen base, and reached a base on an error

Adrian Gonzalez, 2-4 with 3 RBI's 

Red Sox Win Against Toronto After Nine Game Losing Streak, Roster is Complete

After losing nine consecutive games, some very close and some very painful, the Red Sox finally win against the Blue Jays. This was thanks to nice pitching by Tony Pena Jr. for three innings. Lackey was supposed to start but stayed behind and pitched a simulated game due to the rain forecast. The game was in fact delayed by 21 minutes before the start of the sixth inning. Jeremy Hazelbaker made the difference in the game, giving the Red Sox the lead in the seventh, after launching a two run homer. The final score was 3-3. 

It was tough Monday morning for Terry Francona to tell Okajima and Aceves that they earn the last two roster spots. This meant that they chose Matt Albers and Dennys Reyes to take those spots. Okajima hadn't pitched well for the past to seasons and after having a bad spring, he has been optioned to Triple-A along with Aceves. Albers did well and pitched to a 2.84 ERA this spring and Reyes has pitched well last season and in spring.

New Twitter and Facebook Pages Launched!

Over the weekend, we were able to launch our twitter and Facebook pages. Our twitter page link is here. And our Facebook page link is here. Please like and follow us to get updates on contests and events. 

Red Sox Jersey Sales Up

Majestic has released its list of top selling jerseys for 2010 in the MLB. Pedroia's performance and fans gave him the 8th place in most sold jerseys in 2010. Despite missing most of last season with injuries, Ellsbury still ranked 15th on the list. This comes as a surprise but sales might even go up for Red Sox jerseys in 2011 due to their huge expectations and new elite player acquisitions. For all those people who have many jerseys, now they have a chance to get more. Who doesn't want an Adrian Gonzalez jersey or a Carl Crawford jersey or any jersey of a player on the Red Sox due to the fact that most of the players on their team are elite, superstar players. They will sell a lot of jerseys this season and mainly because of the fact that they have a huge fan bases willing to spend a lot money for their jerseys. If you feel left out and need to get a jersey or player t-shirt right now, you can click the link below for Red Sox jerseys and choose your team and player and size I was able to provide for your convenience. Or go and buy a jersey from Majestic's website. But if you wallet is hurting from the recession, you can always root in your pajamas in the comfort of your home.

Red Sox Wins and Losses Contest Results So Far

So far, the predictions are...

Wins             Losses                    Person

 108                 54                 Chris Davidson

 106                 56                  James Jenkins

 101                 61                 Zach Silverman

  98                  64                   Adam Pozega

  98                  64                       D Mac

  96                  66                  John Calvagno

  93                  69                   John Denaro

There is still time to enter, until Opening Day, instructions are at the bottom.

This is a contest between my followers. Please e-mail your guess to me.

1.) Guess the wins and losses for the Red Sox this season. Remember there are 162 game in a season. Whoever is the closest wins.

2.) Guess how many homers Kevin Youkilis and Adrian Gonzalez will have combined.The closest guess wins.

3.) Guess how many stolen bases Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford will have combined. The closest guess wins.

Tiebreaker: If there is a tie in any category whoever best guesses the amount of homers Ortiz will have wins.

What will they win you might ask? The winners in each category will win a free Red Sox Mug or Tee-Shirt .

To apply, send an e-mail to me answering as many of the three questions you want but you must answer the tiebreaker. If you guess more than once, you will be disqualified. Our email is redsoxblog360@gmail.com.

Red Sox Loses Two Weekend Games Even After Good Starting Pitching

From redsox.mlb.com

Over the weekend, the Red Sox have lost two very closes games that unraveled after very unfortunate events. On Saturday, Josh Becket pitched very well, only giving up one earned run but 4 unearned runs. This was due to two errors that led to 4 unearned runs. This was the difference in the game as the Red Sox lost 7-5. On Sunday, Dice-K pitched 5 and 2/3 giving up 2 earned runs after having two outs. After the next pitcher came in, 8 more runs crossed the plate to make it 10-0. Eventually, the Red Sox scored 3 runs to make it 10-3 and that was how the game ended. Today, Monday, the Red Sox played the Phillies and lost 4-1 They really didn't do anything wrong but were just over matched by Roy Halladay who pitched 7 and 2/3 innings. Lester was great at the beginning but gave up 3 runs in the sixth.

Red Sox 2011 Opening Day Pitching Rotation and Lineup

Batting Lineup

1. Jacoby Ellsbury CF 6

2. Dustin Pedroia 2B 15

3. Carl Crawford LF 13

4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B 28         -Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis might be used interchangably.

5. Kevin Youkilis 3B 20

6. David Ortiz DH 34

7. J.D. Drew RF 7

8. Jarrod Saltalamachia C 39

9. Marco Scutaro SS 16

Pitching Rotation

1. Jon Lester L

4. John Lackey R

2. Clay Buchholz R

3. Josh Beckett R

5. Daisuke Matsuzaka R

Red Sox Pitching is Doing Better, Ellsbury is Getting Hot

Over the last two days, the Red Sox have had nice wins thanks to their over-achieving starters. On Monday, Alfredo Aceves pitched against his former team giving up one earned run. The Yankees wouldn't score anymore even after he left to give the Red Sox the victory, 1-2. The score was the same on today vs. the Tigers. Today Dice-K pitched 5 masterful inning giving up 2 hits and no earned runs. This is much better than a previous start where he gave up 5 earned runs.

Ellsbury has been hot lately this spring hitting over .400 . He hit a nice homer a few days ago going 3-3. He also hit another homer in today's game, putting the Red Sox on the scoreboard. Many believe his success is due to the fact he misses baseball after his season ending injury last year and he is really excited about playing for the first time in quite a while.

Red Sox Wins and Losses Contest

This is a contest between my followers. Please e-mail your guess to me.

1.) Guess the wins and losses for the Red Sox this season. Remember there are 162 game in a season. Whoever is the closest wins.

2.) Guess how many homers Kevin Youkilis and Adrian Gonzalez will have combined.The closest guess wins.

3.) Guess how many stolen bases Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford will have combined. The closest guess wins.

Tiebreaker: If there is a tie in any category whoever best guesses the amount of homers Ortiz will have wins.

What will they win you might ask? The winners in each category will win a free Red Sox Mug or Tee-Shirt .

To apply, send an e-mail to me answering as many of the three questions you want but you must answer the tiebreaker. If you guess more than once, you will be disqualified. Our email is redsoxblog360@gmail.com.

Red Sox Walk-Off with a Win vs. the Orioles

Video Removed

Video from redsox.mlb.com

Lackey did very well in his second spring start. He had four shutout innings. After giving up an early single, he was lights out. This is what Lackey said about his proformance, "I was happy with [my] fastball location today," said Lackey, who has allowed just one run over six innings in two starts this spring. "My rotation on my four-seam fastball was nice, it was nice and true. I still haven't started throwing my cutter yet, but I'm probably ready to do that [in my] next start, so it was a good step forward." Carl Crawford also helped with two steals and his first RBI. After and RBI single by Youkilis and a double steal, JD Drew had a two run single. But after 8 innings, the Orioles were leading 5-4. For the tie, Che-Hsuan Lin scored off of Bobby Stevens' error in the bottom half of the inning. After a nice outfield assist by Daniel Nava to save the game, Yamaico Navarro had a walk-off single to score Oscar Tejeda.

Papelbon Pitches Scoreless Inning

Video Removed

Video from redsox.mlb.com

During his second outing in Spring Training, Papelbon pitched to his expectation. He pitched a scoreless frame which you can watch in the video above. This is Papelbon's make or break year. If he pitches like he did in 2007 and 2008 he might get resigned by the Red Sox or by another team for 14+ million per season. If he pitches like last year or worse he will probably not resign with the Sox next off season. This past off season, the Red Sox offered Mariano Rivera a pretty good contract to take Papelbon's job and trade him elsewhere. They also thought they might be able to sign Rafael Soriano and trade him away but didn't due to the low interest in him. There is not so much interest in Papelbon because he has not pitched well recently and his is salary is too high for many teams to afford. Although they did sign Bobby Jenks (closer of the White Sox) for two years who can replace Papelbon if he moves after the season and the Red Sox also think they have closer stuff in Daniel Bard who is a talented young flame thrower. This means whether or not Papelbon moves during or after the season, or if he starts to slip, the Red Sox have good solutions for the closing role.

Beckett Shows Good Signs after Mild Concussion

After sustaining a mild concussion a few days ago Beckett showed signs of recovery Friday. This happened when he got hit with a hard line drive in the temple. He had trouble walking off the field, but slowly got better. He missed his start on Thursday vs the Phillies. But instead, pitched a three inning simulated game on Friday. During this simulated game, he pitched 40 good pitches and showed no signs of injury. When asked about how he fells, he said,"I'm actually good," said Beckett. "I'm really sore on the left side of my head, my jaw, and stuff like that. I think I'm pretty much back to normal." That is a very reassuring sign for all of New England.

Starting Jobs

With Spring Training under way, the Red Sox have great starters at all positions after a great off-season where they acquired Adrian Gonzalez and sign Carl Crawford along with other moves. The only two uncertain positions  for the Red Sox are shortstop and catcher. At shortstop they will most likely have Marco Scutaro starting. He came to Boston last off season on a two year deal. In his first year of the deal, he hit decently with reasonable average and good defense. Another option at short is Jed Lowrie. He has had a lot of injuries over the last couple of seasons preventing him from getting a starting job but at the end of last season, he showed great power, and good average. If he does well enough this Spring, he might win the starting job. Catching, the Red Sox have Jarrod Saltalamachia as well as long time veteran, Jason Varitek. The Red Sox acquired Jarrod in a mid-season trade. He has always had great offense, but his defense and injury history has kept him in the minors. He will most likely start the season as the catcher with Varitek as the backup. So what do you think?

Spring Training is About to Begin

Spring Training for the Boston Red Sox is about to begin. They will first play a few split squad matches against nearby college teams on Saturday. Then on Sunday, the Grapefruit league begins and so do the games for the mayoral cup. The mayoral cup is a few games against the Twin, who they share their spring training town with. After all the Red Sox vs. Twins games, the mayor awards the winning team. On Sunday against the Twins, Josh Beckett will be starting for a few innings. On Monday vs the Twins again, Daisuke Matsuzaka ( Dice-K) will be pitching for the Red Sox. Don't expect to see too many innings from them and don't expect to see all of the position players as they will take it easy to start Spring Training.

Big Expectations for Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford

With spring training drills underway, many people have big expectations for the highly regarded  Red Sox newcomers. Adrian Gonzalez came to the Red Sox in a deal for prospects Casey Kelly, Anthony Rizzo, Reymond Fuentes, and a player to be named lated. The Red Sox have tried to acquire Adrian Gonzalez since the 2008 season trade deadline due to the fact that he is a great all around player. He has power, average, defense and the Red Sox have the ability to put him at first base, due to the versatility of Kevin Youkilis. Last year, Adrian Gonzalez had 31 homers and 101 RBIS and hit a good average of .298. This was all  while he was in need of shoulder surgery. Also that was with half of his games played at spacious Petco Park. Now with a repaired shoulder and being in Fenway Park, Adrian Gonzalez could hit many more homers thanks to his opposite field stroke which is perfect for the Green Monster in Fenway. Carl Crawford was acquired very swiftly and suddenly by the Red Sox. He was expected to go to the Angels but instead came to Boston with a large contract for 7 yrs/$142M. He is very important to the Red Sox due to his speed, athleticism, contact, and defense. Not many balls will hit the ground in left center with speedy Ellsbury and Carl Crawford taking center and left field. Also, he along with Ellsbury will drive pitchers crazy as they have both stolen more than 50 bases in one season. Think about this, if either he or Ellsbury gets a hit and steals second on the next pitch, then all they need is a hit and they will score. With these two additions to an already good team, the Red Sox have high expectations for this upcoming season.

Projected 2011 Season Batting Lineup and Pitching Rotation

Batting Lineup

1. Jacoby Ellsbury CF 6

2. Dustin Pedroia 2B 15

3. Carl Crawford LF 13

4 Adrian Gonzalez 1B 28

5. Kevin Youkilis 3B 20

6.David Ortiz DH 34

7. J.D. Drew RF 7

8. Jarrod Saltalamachia C 39

9. Marco Scutaro SS 16

Pitching Rotation

1. Jon Lester L

2. Clay Buchholz R

3.Josh Beckett R

4. John Lackey R

5. Daisuke Matsuzaka R